The summer of 2010 has been one of change here at The Silent Ballet. Staffers have gotten engaged, gotten married, taken on new jobs, moved to new states and nations, and traveled around the world. Fittingly, this month’s picks experiment with the emotions of flux. Each attempts to capture in music what can only be diminished by words. One release, written for a ballet, even seems to wink at our name.

We will always remember the music that accompanies the significant passages of our lives. This is the music I listened to while I was recovering. This is the soundtrack to my European rail trip. This is the music that was playing when I first made love. This is my song, her song, our song.

As much as reviewers may make value judgments concerning the quality of a certain track or album, we are all colored by taste and experience. Our appreciation for different forms of music is inevitably tinged by life events. This explains why some forms of popular entertainment remain immune to criticism, while many critical favorites fail to find an audience. In the end, it’s all personal. These are our picks, and we would love to imagine that they will be our readers’ as well. If not, we hope that our readers have each compiled their own playlists, comprised of the albums and songs that did not exist a month ago, but that will forever define the summer of 2010.

Pianist Nils Frahm may be relatively new within the music scene, but he chooses his collaborations well. This time out, he’s paired with Anne Müller, whose strings and beats round out an album containing “something for everybody.” While various listeners may be fans of sweet melodies, IDM beats, minimalist textures, and glitch, seldom have they encountered them on the same album, much less one of such seamless fluidity. Add to this the fact that a ton of interesting events and ideas are unfolding within the music. The result is an invigorating and confident cross-blend, with each artist benefiting from the presence of the other. (David Murrieta)

In the world of instrumental collaborations, there have been a few acknowledged victories. Albums such as the MONO/WEG record offer fresh perspectives on artists whom we already know and love. In this grand tradition, there now stands a new member: So Percussion and Matmos’ Treasure State. Combining the worlds of avant-garde percussion and experimental electronica might seem like a daunting task (with likely inaccessible results), but these two storied artists have succeeded brilliantly, developing music that is fun, intelligent, creative, spastic, and even serene. This is definitely weird music, but it’s never hard to listen to. On the contrary, it’s clear as sparkling crystal. (Tom Butcher)

Max Richter’s lastest effort constantly wanders between two distinct states of mind, and at times seems schizophrenic. Yet Infra remains consistent throughout, and operates as an example of how an artist can relieve himself of genre and conceptual restraints. Engulfing elements of drone, electronica, and classical music, Infra is as much as a journey to listen to as it must have been to make. As the album moves forward, the emotional level increases. With highlights like “Infra 5” and “Journey 3,” Max Richter further establishes himself as one of the best classically-trained experimentalists around. (Mohammed Ashraf)

Having previously performed with Tarantel, Hulou and Amanda Palmer, this San Francisco native recently recorded her third solo effort, Into the Trees. With her cello in hand and laptop at foot, she unearths the musical treasures buried inside the lands of acoustic instrumentation and laptop electronica. The music leads the listener into a sonic thicket of harmonics and electronica noises, only to settle among pacific drones and punchy strings. The rhythmic breadth of “The Optimist,” ominous strokes of “Escape Artist,” and primitive ambience of “Seven League Boots” reveal her classical and electronic affinities with the cadence of a master bow-worker and laptopstician. A guide into the trees has never been so melodic and accessible. (Tom Meagher)